It's Not How Big You Are...the Fitz Loadenthal Story (MLB 2K12)

[TheNumber35]

This is the story of young Fitzgerald (Fitz) Loadenthal and his dream of pitching in the big leagues. (Note, this is going to be much more story than stats with most of the story coming from young Fitz's journal entries.)




Chapter 1: East Rutherford, New Jersey
April 1st, 2012
A New Beginning

Today is the day...the day I've been waiting for. Ever since I blew out my elbow last season I've been desperate to get back out there. Baseball is my passion, I love this game more than life itself sometimes and I don't know what I'd ever do without it. But ever since my injury, everything's changed! I used to be the left-handed, fire-balling midget...now I'm just a left-handed midget.

Wait before I go there, let's back up a few steps as I'm being rude. My name is Fitzgerald Harrison Loadenthal...but you can call me Fitz, that's what everyone else calls me. I'm a senior at James Madison High...go Eagles!!! I'm hardly over 5 feet tall and I barely weigh 140 pounds, but that didn't stop me from dominating high school baseball for the last 2+ years.

I was punching out about 130 a season in just under 70 innings with a sub 2.00 ERA. I was the best pitcher in all of high school baseball...plus I was left-handed too! I had scouts salivating just at the sight of me with my big fastball and sweeping slider. But, like I said before, I blew out my elbow last season and that's when my life got flipped upside-down.

The second I got hurt, I knew something had went terribly wrong. I can't even begin to explain the excruciating pain that goes along with a tendon being torn, but believe me...there isn't anything I've ever experienced that hurt worse than that. I immediately went in to see a specialist and he told me something I was really hoping not to hear. He told me that I'd never throw as hard again and should really consider hanging up my cleats forever. But, that wasn't happening! I love this game way too much, so I talked with the doc for awhile...eventually we figured out a way I could keep playing.

I started throwing as soon as I could, I had a lot of work to do if I was going to be ready for the season...as I had to learn a new pitch. Yepp, you guessed it, I was transforming from a power pitcher into a knuckleballer. Apparently the strain of throwing a knuckleball is far less than throwing a fastball, so if I could pick up on that pitch and use it as my primary one...I can keep playing! At first it was tough, I mean throwing a knuckler is harder than you'd think. But eventually, I got it working and it turned into a filthy pitch. I worked my way back onto a mound and got back into shape and today Coach announced I'd be able to play the season for our Varsity Team! He slotted me in as the #3 starter and I'm starting later today.

Honestly though, I just want to prove to the scouts that I can pitch at the big league level. My dream is to be on the mound in the show, anything else in life just doesn't seem like it will be enough for me. My idol used to be Clayton Kershaw...now it's RA Dickey. Haha, ya know, I'd never have imagined myself saying that. Not in a million years.

That's all for now I guess, I'll try to post on this thing as much as I can...maybe later tonight after my start.

[TheNumber35]

Chapter 2: UGH!!!
East Rutherford, New Jersey
April 20th, 2012

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been keeping ya posted. I see since the last time I posted there's been some activity on this thing...which means people are actually interested in my life, which is weird. Anyways, the reason I haven't been on to update on my season is because it's been going awful. That start I was talking about in the first post, yeah I got lit up like a freakin' Christmas Tree man! I gave up 6 runs in 4 innings...although I did punch out 10 batters. When they didn't make contact I did well, it was just the whole "contact" problem. The only positive I can take from that one is that I felt no pain in my elbow and I didn't allow any dingers. Other than that, I was pissed...I couldn't control the damned thing and I threw 4 wild pitches! My next start wasn't much better honestly. I gave up 4 runs in 6 innings in a 4-0 loss to our arch rival Harrison. And my arch rival, they're big right-handed hurler in Peter Johnson. God I hate that guy! Me and Pete go way back, used to be the best of friends all the way through 8th grade. That was when he decided to go to Private School and act like a Grade 1 Douchenozzle. He never wanted to hang out with me anymore, always gave me the cold shoulder when we did see each other, and we really drifted apart because of it. Ever since, we've been enemies on the mound, competing for all the scouts attention. This season, he's winning...big time. No scout wants a 5 foot-nothing knuckleballer who can't even throw strikes, especially not when there's a big strong power pitching righty opposing him.

So while I do hate that I'm scuffling a bit, I hate it even more that I'm sucking against Peter. I want to shut him out and giving Pete the satisfaction of beating me isn't something I ever want to do.

Oh, that reminds me! My pop got us two tickets to the Mets game this weekend behind home plate! The Mets are my favorite professional team and I'd love nothing more than to be on the mound at Citi Field someday. But the reason this game is so exciting for me is because of who's pitching. The Mets are sending RA Dickey to the mound and as you may recall, I idolize the guy now. I mean, he went through exactly what I did and then some! Maybe I can learn something from watching him. Hopefully I can get all this turned around soon, if not...well I think we all know what happens if I can't get things turned around.

[TheNumber35]

Chapter 3: Are you kidding me?
April 25th, 2012
Flushing, New York

So today was the Mets game. I was super excited to see my hero pitch against the Miami Marlins and former Met Jose Reyes. Dickey didn't disappoint me at all. He went 7 strong and allowed 1 run on 3 hits with 7Ks and only one walk. He was just dominating the Marlins, he made them look foolish for 7 innings, throwing primarily a knuckler. David Wright also did some damage, homering off Mark Buehrle in the 6th to put the game out of reach. But that's not what I wanted to talk about with this game, I mean it was incredible to see and I couldn't have been happier seeing my guys get the W, but there was something that happened after the game that I couldn't believe.

I was walking through the concourse, on my way back to meet my dad...he went to go see his boss who gave us the tickets and thank him. When all the sudden my phone goes off, I go to check it and it's my dad calling (of course.)

"Hey Fitz, you need to get up to this Suite now...there's someone here who wants to meet you."

He hung up after that and I headed towards my dad. When I got there, I saw my dad, his boss, and a bearded fellow with glasses that I couldn't quite identify. I walked up to introduce myself and the second I got in close enough to say hello...my jaw dropped to the floor. The man who wanted to meet me, was RA Dickey himself. Dickey introduced himself and pulled me over to the side for a conversation. He talked about a million different things, asked me a bunch of questions about my injury and how it happened. We even talked about my season so far and how things were going. Of course I was looking glum when talking about an 0-3 record with a high 5.00 ERA. Eventually, he stopped me and thought to himself for a minute. After the pause, he whispered something quietly...just loud enough to where I could hear him but quiet enough to where nobody else could.

"Of course! It all made sense now, why didn't I think of that!?!?!"

That was exactly the thought that ran through my head after he told me his secret. Everything was coming together in my brain, I knew exactly what I had to do...and boy was I going to do it.

[TheNumber35]

The Office of Amateur Scouting- New York Mets
May 30th, 2012
It was a dark night deep in the city, the sun had gone down hours ago but a man sat alone in his office, scuffling through his notes and preparing a report to send along to the club. He cursed to himself silently as he cut his finger on a piece of paper, he reached into his desk drawer and grabbed a shot glass and a bottle of bourbon. He pours himself some and begins to drink. This is when the decisions had to be made...

"7, 9, 6, 7, 5, 9, 8, 8 shutout innings? This boy has got to be something special...I know the big club sent me down there for that kid Johnson, and rightfully so, he's a man among boys, but this Loadenthal kid is something else. I don't think anyone else even has this guy on their radar after his injury, and I think it's something to keep an eye on, but my god can the kid throw that damned pitch. The big club is gonna look at me sideways if I put this kid on there, but in my 35 years of scouting big league talent, I've never seen anything quite like this kid! He's gonna be a star in this league, whether its for us or someone else...I'd rather it be us."

The man hears a voice outside his door, followed by a knock.

"Come in already!" he mumbles angrily

"Frank, why are you so pissy? Bourbon gotcha feelin' down? I mean come on now, that's no way to treat your favorite West-Coast scout is it?"

"Shut it Martin...I don't have time for this right now, I gotta make a call on this East Coast list. Come here and look at this, tell me what you think. Should I include this Loadenthal kid in my report, or leave him out? I mean he's looking good out there and its hard to ignore him...but there's always a hard throwing prospect we leave off that makes it, I'm just wondering if I should leave one off for this guy."

"Wow...does that say he threw a shutout? With a knuckler he just learned how to throw this season? Geez Frank, you do have yourself a pickle here, the kid is talented and has major passion for the game...but you're dead-on about a guy you'll leave off that could make it. I think its a toss-up honestly. Not every knuckleballer is RA Freakin' Dickey, so I'd say ignore him. It's easier that way."

"I guess you're right, I just think this guy could be special ya know? But its better to be safe than canned."

Martin left the office, leaving Frank alone to ponder his decision one last time. Frank thought it over a million times, and eventually...faxed his list to the GM's office. He took a sip of his bourbon and sighed deeply.

"Good luck kid...you're gonna need it."

[TheNumber35]

Chapter 4: Take that Johnson!
June 1st, 2012
East Rutherford, New Jersey

Hey all, I'm back after a long stint away from this thing. I've been so busy with school finishing up and baseball. That's right! I forgot I haven't been posting on here since I turned my season around. So right after my little chat with RA Dickey, I went and called up my catcher, Mike, and asked him if we could meet and throw a bullpen. He agreed and we met up later that night. Right from the get-go, Mike noticed something different about me and claimed the ball was dancing more than he'd ever seen a knuckler before.

After that session, I started rolling. My first start after my chat with Mr. Dickey was a 2 hitter, with 19Ks...are you kidding? I got 19Ks with a 65 mph pitch? I couldn't even punch out 19 in a game when I was throwing 100 mph! That got the team rolling, we ran off a winning streak that included 20 straight wins. I pitched a bunch of games where I gave up no runs and coach eventually bumped me up to the top of the rotation for the state playoffs. We got to the championship game...and guess who we played?

Yepp...Harrison. And you guessed it, none other than Peter Johnson was on the bump for them. Coach walked up to me before the game and said only four words, "Beat that a** kid." Its safe to say I loved Coach more than ever after he said that.

The game started off shaky for me, two errors and a walk got me into a sticky situation with nobody out. But I came right back and punched out the next two guys and got a pop-up to get out of the inning unharmed. Johnson was on his game from the start, he rung up the first 3 hitters on 98 mph heat and I was right back out to the mound.

The game started to fly by for me, strikeout after strikeout, groundball after groundball, out after out. Eventually, it was the bottom of the 8th inning and I didn't even realize what the box score looked like.


Harrison: 0/0/0
James Madison: 0/0/2

No hitters on both sides? This late in the game? For real!?!?! Like wow. There were two outs in the inning and I stepped up to the plate for my 3rd at bat of the game. Now, lets be clear here...I'm a god awful hitter. I hit about .240 this year with no homers and 10 RBI out of our 8 hole. But, I pitched so well all that didn't matter. Pete had rung me up twice on nasty heat earlier in this game and I fully expected him to do it again. First pitch, fastball right down the middle.

"F*** me..." ran through my head at the speed of sound. Second pitch, curveball...strike two right on the black.

"Damnit Fitz! Don't you dare let him get you on that hook!! If he throws it again, jump all over it."

0-2, here he comes set...here comes the pitch.

*Ping* "Come on, come on, stay fair!!! Did I get enough of it...it's gonna die at the wall...well time to go pitch again. Wait...it's still flying! A little more, more, more!! It's gone! He threw me that hook and I pounced on it! Take that you douchebag!"

I've never felt so good after a swing before, and I know it was childish to do...but considering it was my first career homer, I took about 30-35 seconds rounding those bases, and I slid into home. I know, I know! Bad Fitz right? Well whatever, I am who I am.

Anyways, back to the game. I came out for the 9th, to finish what I started. I got the first two guys to roll over pitches and ground out. But the guy I wanted was the 3rd hitter of the inning. That would be Pete. He was the best hitter on their squad, dominant on the mound and off it. But he's scuffled against me in the past...and he'd scuffle again now. I rung him up on a nasty knuckler, it danced around and fell off the table at the last second.

What happened next is all a blur to me, teammates mobbing me on the mound, pouring Gatorade all over me, putting me on their shoulders. We just won the state championship...and that doesn't even mention the fact that I tossed our school's first ever no-hitter in the process. It all ended so fast, then graduation came next.

"Fitzgerald Harrison Loadenthal"

As I walked across the stage to accept my diploma and shook the hand of a man I'd never met or heard of, a million thoughts ran through my head...mainly about baseball. I worried about being able to follow my dreams, that I'd be able to keep pitching, if I would have to go to college to prove myself? Everything had happened so fast, senior year flew by. Now I just have to wait by and hope someone has as much faith in me as I do.